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It is not necessary to clean the milk mushrooms by removing the upper skin. Everything in the mushroom is edible. It is important to properly process the harvested crop in a timely manner, otherwise the fruiting bodies will lose their taste and become unsuitable for human consumption.
Do I need to clean breasts
The term “clean the mushroom” does not always hide the action associated with the removal of the skin, the spore-bearing layer from under the cap and other parts of the fruiting body. To find the right answer to this question, you need to understand all the nuances. It’s worth starting with the fact that not all milk mushrooms can be eaten. Conditionally edible are two types of mushrooms:
- White mushrooms. The color of the growing fruiting body varies from white to slightly bluish. After soaking, the color changes. The fungus acquires a gray or slightly greenish tint.
- Black mushrooms. Despite this name, the caps of the fruiting bodies are dark brown with a greenish tint.
The common habitat unites these two species. Milk mushrooms grow in families in any forest, but are more common among pines and birches. Fruiting bodies are recognized by a flat hat with a peculiar bulge. It is in this hole that most of the dirt that needs to be cleaned is collected.
The next moment you need to pay attention to the skin. In milk mushrooms, it is mucous, which contributes to the abundant adhesion of dust, grass, pieces of dry foliage. This dirty coating must be cleaned in the same way before preparing the fruiting bodies.
According to the rules, it is necessary to clean white milk mushrooms or their counterparts with black hats a maximum of 5 hours after collection. You can survive the day, but part of the crop will go into culling. Such strict requirements are due to the fact that mushrooms contain a lot of moisture in their body. Fruiting bodies stored for a long time lose their taste, become lethargic, and change the structure of the pulp.
An example on the video, how to clean milk mushrooms quickly:
How to process milk mushrooms after harvest
When the harvest has already been delivered home, you can’t linger for a long time. Immediately you need to start preparing everything you need, which will help to clean the fruiting bodies with high quality. To complete the procedure, you need:
- The round-shaped container is larger in volume than mushrooms. A pan, basin, bucket or plastic barrel will do. If there is too much crop, several containers will be required.
- Water is needed cold, preferably running. If there is no running water, you can use the well. In the second option, you will often have to change the water manually with buckets.
- A knife with a sharp blade is necessary for trimming the lower part of the leg, damaged areas, and will help to better clean the dirt from the hat.
- A brush with soft bristles or a regular sponge is used when washing mushrooms. Do not clean with coarse bristles. It will damage the fruiting body.
When everything is prepared, an important moment begins – the processing of milk mushrooms before cooking or salting.
How to quickly clean mushrooms from dirt
The harvest delivered from the forest must be cleaned, but first it is subjected to pre-treatment. The first step is to sort out all the mushrooms. Old milk mushrooms damaged by slugs or worms, dubious fruiting bodies are thrown away. If the damage is minor, you can cut it with a knife. Sorted mushrooms are cleaned by hand from large debris. The surface of the cap, if necessary, is cleaned with a knife, scraping off adhering foliage and grass.
After completing the “rough” cleaning, the milk mushrooms are washed with running water. It is optimal to load them in portions in a colander and put them under a faucet. The washed fruit bodies are put in a container, poured with cold water for 3 hours. During this time, adhering dirt will fall behind. Heavily soiled hats are brushed.
Dirty water is drained, after which a new portion is immediately poured. To prevent milk mushrooms from floating up, they are covered with a large dish or lid, a load is placed on top, for example, a jar of water. Soaked mushrooms stand for a day. During this time, fine dirt that has eaten into the body of milk mushrooms will fall behind, insects will die. During the day, the water will have to be changed every 4-5 hours. If this is not done, the fruiting bodies will turn sour.
How to quickly wash milk mushrooms
After a day of soaking, the main dirt will fall behind. The water is drained from the container. In order to continue to properly clean the milk mushrooms after soaking, they are armed with a brush or sponge. The washing process starts. Mushrooms are poured with clean cold water. Each hat is cleaned by rubbing brushes or sponges in a circular motion. To clean the hat from the spore-bearing layer is a controversial matter. Usually sand accumulates between the plates, which is difficult to remove even by soaking. If the harvest was carried out in a forest on sandy soil, then it is better to cut the spore-bearing layer with a knife. Rural residents who collect milk mushrooms in ecologically clean, non-sandy areas do not do this.
The processed mushrooms are washed again and placed in another container with clean salted water. Here they should get wet for another day. The next day, they are simply washed under running water, no longer cleaned, used for cooking.
How to properly clean mushrooms
Each processing of milk mushrooms at home takes place according to its own recipe. Most often, mushrooms are salted, fried, marinated, and dishes are prepared from fresh fruiting bodies. Milk mushrooms are rarely allowed to dry and freeze. This is due to the fact that the fruiting bodies are too watery. In addition, their cleaning involves several stages of soaking, and this cannot be done for drying or freezing.
Experienced mushroom pickers claim that black mushrooms should be washed properly without soaking. This royal mushroom is able to lose its delicious aroma and taste. In extreme cases, to lag behind the dirt, the harvested crop can be soaked in salted water for no more than three hours.
How to clean mushrooms for pickling
Despite the many recipes, there are two types of salting: cold and hot. However, for any option, the processing of milk mushrooms before salting occurs according to the same principle:
- The harvested crop is sorted. Remove old and damaged fruiting bodies. They try to clean the dirt and stuck leaves with a brush. If this is difficult to do, the milk mushrooms are poured with water for 2 hours, after which the cleaning is repeated.
- Clean and washed fruit bodies are cut into 2, 3 or more parts, as required by the salting recipe. Sometimes just a hat is separated from the legs.Advice! Hats are the most delicious in salting. In many recipes, the legs of the milk mushrooms are removed and used to prepare other dishes, such as caviar.
- Even if you use the hot salting method, sliced u2bu3bmushrooms must be soaked before cooking. Heat treatment will not help get rid of bitterness. Fruit bodies are placed in a container of a suitable size, poured with cold salted water. The duration of soaking depends on the quality of the fruiting bodies. Better take your time. If cold salting is provided, then soaking can be extended up to XNUMX-XNUMX days.
- After soaking, the fruiting bodies are washed several times and inspected. If everything is fine, they are sent for salting. Further, no preparatory actions are needed if the cold method is chosen. When salting is provided in a hot way, it is necessary to process raw milk mushrooms by boiling.
To cook mushrooms, they are placed in a pan. Water is poured in such an amount that the bodies float freely. After boiling, cook over low heat for 15 minutes. The boiled product is discarded in a colander, left to drain, and then sent to salting.
How to properly clean milk mushrooms before cooking
It must be remembered that milk mushrooms are conditionally edible mushrooms. In their body there is a milky juice that can cause intoxication of the body. After harvesting, you can not delay processing, regardless of which dish mushrooms are provided for. If you put the crop in the refrigerator, even for a short storage, toxic substances will begin to be absorbed into the body. From the lack of oxygen, pathogenic bacteria will begin to multiply.
To properly clean the milk mushrooms, you need to follow the same steps as for salting. Mushrooms are cleaned of dirt, washed, soaked. The only difference is the need for cooking. In addition, the fruiting bodies are optimally sorted by size. It is more convenient to cook small and large specimens separately, as the former will fry or boil faster, while others will take more time.
Useful Tips
To enjoy the harvest, you need to use the advice of experienced mushroom pickers:
- a small knife with a sharp stainless steel blade is used for cleaning;
- it is impossible to overdo it with soaking, otherwise the fruiting bodies will lose their aroma and taste;
- after cleaning and soaking milk mushrooms are immediately processed without being sent for storage;
- it is impossible to use a pan made of copper, cast iron, aluminum for cooking;
- mushroom dishes cannot be stored for a long time, especially if they are with potatoes.
If, after cooking or processing, the appearance of the fruiting bodies is in doubt, it is better to throw them away.
Conclusion
Cleaning milk mushrooms is no more difficult than other mushrooms. The main thing is to follow the processing rules and not ignore the requirements specified in the recipe.